


In My End You Are My Beginning

by theletterdee



Series: As Heavy As A Stone - Abby Griffin/Marcus Kane & Cluster - The 100/Sense8 AU [1]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Angst, Canon? What Canon?, Comedy, Drama, F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Season 1 retelling, Sense8 AU, all our faves in a cluster together oh boy!, am i seeing people for real or am i seeing things?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-16
Updated: 2018-03-15
Packaged: 2018-12-03 03:23:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11523504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theletterdee/pseuds/theletterdee
Summary: When taught about the evolution of mankind, most everyone knows the general idea of it all, but prior to the evolution of humans, another subspecies branched off. Homo sensorium have a remarkable ability to communicate telepathically, draw on experience from others, and disseminate information at the speed of the modern internet thousands of years prior to its creation. Hunted since their birth as a species, sensates learn to hide in the thousands of years of existence on Earth. After nuclear devastation that wiped out most of Earth’s population, sensate clusters are still being created, and still hunted. On Earth, Grounders are familiar with sensates and aside from a few hunters, they exist out in the open. While on the Ark, they still hide among the population. When the Ark is dying, the 100 sent to the ground, and the clock ticking for the rest of the Ark population, Abby, Marcus, and six others in space and down on Earth wake up one day with an extreme migraine and soon start seeing and experiencing thoughts and emotions not their own. As they explore their newfound abilities, our favorite duo have to maneuver a whole new playing field outside of their wildest dreams.





	1. Ai ste seintaim Oso

Fire burned in her lungs. It echoed in her legs as she ran, uncaring of the branches whipping her face or tangling in her hair. She had to keep going. She had to get as far away as possible before it happened.

 

Pain seared up her spine, lancing white-hot behind her eyes as she muffled her cry. It couldn't be happening yet, she still needed time.

 

Time that she did not have.

 

“Somer.”

 

Relief washed over her like cool water from a spring and she stumbled to her knees, “Thelonious.”

 

“Somer, it’s time.” Cool, dry hands pushed her tangled hair away from her face and she leaned into them. Leaned into the comfort Thelonious offered even if he wasn’t physically in front of her.

 

The damp leaves and roots below her faded suddenly to hard, cold metal floors and an unnatural light. Somer opened her eyes and met his, those dark brown eyes that she could lose herself forever in. They steadied her.

 

“I can’t,” she whispered.

 

“You can.” Thelonious’ hands tightened minutely as he continued, “You must.”

 

“They’ll be hunted, Thelonious, it would only be a matter of time.”

 

“Not all,” he reasoned, “and they’ll be hunted if they’re born or not. You and I both know how _she_ is.”

 

“ _Finrona_ ,” Somer spat out as another wave of pain traveled through her body. She reached up for comfort and Thelonious steadied her. Squeezing his hands, and concentrating on his calming words, Somer slinked back to her own body and away from Thelonious’ home, to the darkened forest of the earth.

 

“We’ll keep them hidden, Somer, as best we can.”

 

“Stay with me?” She whispered.

 

“Always.”

 

“Okay… okay,” Somer nodded and concentrated on breathing through the pain. She wasn’t ready and she wasn’t sure the new cluster she was birthing would be ready either, but there was no more time. No more time to run, no more time to hide.

 

“I’m here, Somer, I’m not leaving.” Thelonious leaned his forehead against hers.

 

“I know I asked, but you have trouble on the Ark.”

 

“Not right now, I don’t. Nothing is more important right now that ensuring this cluster is born and lives.”

 

“But your people-”

 

“They have a few days before the vote, we have at least some time.”

 

Another lance of pain shot up her spine and Somer cried out. Thelonious shifted to sit behind her and steadied her as the pains became more frequent. She gritted her teeth and tried to stay as quiet as she possibly could, but pain overrode her senses as it arched her back to the point that she felt it pop.

 

“I see them! Thelonious, I see them!”

 

A woman about her age, surrounded by the blue-white artificial light that she so often associated with Thelonious. Straight black hair framed a face that easily smiled, but the joy never reached her sad brown eyes. She’d seen this woman before, in the presence of Thelonious sometimes and others. Somer admired her quick wit. The sudden appearance of Somer in the middle of the hallway brought the woman to a full stop and those sad eyes lit up with confusion and curiosity. Somer smiled. _Callie_.

 

Another woman, also on the space city, wearing a worn dark blue coat and her honey-brown hair pulled into a singular braid over one shoulder. Her dark brown eyes shone with a kindness, but did not hide a steel lying underneath, fortunate for a healer. Somer was familiar with this woman as well, she was a frequent visitor of Thelonious, their families intertwined for years. She was strong, and would continue to be, in the face of adversity. The woman _fisa_ looked up at Somer and their eyes met after a double take. _Abby_.

 

The third of the new cluster also lived on the Ark, Somer wondered how many lived up under Thelonious’ guidance. This one was a man, dark brown eyes that seemed cold, but probing deeper, Somer saw the roiling emotions with each decision he made. His dark hair was smoothed back from his face, except for a stubborn curl as he looked over a flat device with a frown. Those guarded eyes widened in alarm at the sight of her, but he did not flinch. _Marcus._

 

Golden sunlight streaming through a still lingering mist and vivid green greeted her with the next in the cluster. There were so many trees, so much green, and Somer looked around in wonder before she centered on the woman before her. This one she recognized. This was one of _Heda_ ’s top generals. A flash of silver warned Somer of impending danger, but she did not flinch when the knife stopped inches from her neck, for she was not really there. It heartened Somer, to see such nerve and strength. The new cluster would need it in the coming days. The warrior before her narrowed her eyes suspiciously, but stood her ground. _Indra_.

 

More green, darker, wilder, and shadowed in the lavender-grey light of the pre-dawn surrounded Somer. Woods that she did not recognize, the breeze marked by a coolness that reminded her of home, and the slight tang of salt that did not. The whisper of leaves brushing against fabric alerted Somer to someone else’s presence. She turned and the tip of a fire-hardened arrow greeted her followed quickly by the steady gaze of its wielder. The arrow did not drop from the line of sight, but a flicker of recognition passed across the woman's face in realization of what was happening. Somer smiled. _Almi_.

 

Blistering cold and bare trees surrounded her and the pounding in her chest filled her ears. She knew this place. She knew this place very well and worry carved out a hollow in her soul at the thought of one of her children here in the center of _Azgeda_ . It was just as she remembered it in her trips as a runner. Lively was the last word used to describe the northern isolated clan, but the bustling market around her breathed a life into the monochromatic city. Bright colors of food, fabric, and shining metal assaulted her eyes, the smell of mulled wine and roasting meat filled her nose, and for a moment she forgot the brutality of the Ice Nation as a whole and saw the people underneath. Her next charge was at the heart of it all, sorting through piles of herbs and ingredients as another man stole an arm around his waist. Their eyes met through the haze of periodic fires and cooking fumes and they shared a smile. _Toron._

 

The cold and slight flurry of snow melted seamlessly into a low simmering heat she’d never felt before. The sky above her held the dark blue and purple of those moments just before dawn with the eastern horizon slowly brightening as the rising sun dyed the clouds and sky in more vibrant colors. The wind reminded her of the air near a fire, hot and tight against her skin as it stirred the red-orange earth beneath her feet. A woman knelt as the sun crept over the horizon, the breeze tousling her long brown hair and the ends of her blue, red, and yellow shawl. Her arms stretched towards the sky, palms up in reverence and thanks as words fell from her mouth, intricate and almost melodical. Years of practice shone through as she prayed, even as she opened her eyes and saw Somer. The prayers didn’t stop, but at the woman’s slow nod, Somer smiled. _Nix_.

 

The heat and the pink of a new dawn vanished and Somer was back on the Ark, surrounded by cold metal, a hum of machines, and the blue-white light of the _skaistegeda_ . This part of it was different from what she usually saw with Thelonious. The metal plates were darker, dirtier, more exposed power panels, ramshackle patches, and brightly colored wires. Carts of different parts crowded this large thoroughfare, but the various people walking through it dodged them expertly with the ease of habit. One man stood among them, wearing a dark blue coat similar to Abby, but stained with a dark fluid, frayed at the seams and cuffs, and patched with lighter fabric. In one hand he held a device similar to Marcus, and the other he directed others off in many directions. A leader in his own right, he paused when he saw her standing off to the side, but quickly finished his explanation to the person in front of him. Tilting his head to one side as he eyed her curiously, he waved. Somer couldn’t help the light laugh that escaped her as she waved back. _Jacopo_.

 

She flitted between all of her new children one last time before all too soon she arrived back in her own body, hair slick with sweat and shivering in the cool morning air. “Protect them, Thelonious.”

 

“I will,” He helped her stand and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Now run.”

 

And she did.

 

* * *

 

 

She rested her forehead on the cool panel in front of her in Earth Monitoring, trying to sleep through the ongoing pain in her head, but definitely losing this battle. The migraine was going on day three now, with no apparent end in sight. One would think the Chief Medical Officer could handle a headache, or at least treat one, but nothing she did made it go away. So Abby tried her best to get through each day monitoring the kids, treating oxygen deprivation symptoms to the Ark citizens all the while lying to them about when the air would be fixed, and bothering Raven about the pod to Earth.

 

_Earth._

 

It still seemed like a dream, but it was a reality. Survivable, at least she thought so, others… not so much. Kane was still being an ass about everything dealing with the 100 sent down to Earth and other things on the Ark. At least she successfully deterred his suspicions of why she went to the section of the Ark where Raven was currently working on the century old pod with his fear of needles. (For once, Abby was glad they were friends growing up and therefore had a weird mix of knowledge about the head of security rattling around her brain even after they drifted apart, and then fell apart.)

 

She sighed and gingerly lifted her head, one of her hands coming to her temple and lightly rubbing. Abby really should be getting back to medical, be somewhere that Raven could get to without suspicion… or maybe she should just go down to the small section where the pod sat. It was quieter there than in the bustling med bay.

 

“Hey, darling,” a slightly cool hand rubbed the back of her neck and Abby relaxed a bit. “How are you feeling?”

 

“Tired,” Abby huffed a laugh, “but then, I’m always tired these days. What about you? Still got that headache?"

 

Callie nodded as she slid into Abby’s view, “Yeah, you too?”

 

“Still hasn’t gone away and nothing helps, not even sleep.”

 

“Not that you even sleep lately,” her best friend teased.

 

“I’ll sleep when I’m dead, you know that, CeCe.”

 

“That I do, Abs, that I do.”

 

Both of them looked at each other for a long moment, and then burst into giggles. For a suspended second in time, they were children again, giggling in school, then they were teenagers, holding hushed conversations away from prying eyes and sitting just a little too close. But it was over too soon and the giggles died off as they shifted back into their present state of wearied adulthood and the impending death of 300 people looming over their heads if Raven’s task didn’t work.

 

“I should get to Medical, Callie,” Abby sighed. “Would you stay and watch over the kids?”

 

Callie’s hand, the palm lightly calloused and cool to the touch, landed on her own and squeezed gently. “Of course, Abby. I’ll alert you if anything changes.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

With a last look at Clarke’s darkened tile, Abby left Earth Monitoring and swept down the hallway towards Medical. She winced slightly whenever a particularly bright light hit her eyes, sending a lance of pain down her neck and shoulders. Why did the original builders of this space station feel the need for so many bright lights that flared unnecessarily? Still, she pushed on and parted the plastic curtain to see an anxious looking Raven shifting her weight from foot to foot while Jackson eyed the mechanic over his shoulder.

 

“Jackson, could you give us a moment, please?” She raised her eyebrows at the other doctor and he nodded. Before he fully left Medical, he shot a curious glance behind him at the two of them, and then they were alone.

 

“Why are you here?” Abby asked Raven, keeping her voice down in case anyone else came in unexpectedly.

 

“I messed up, Abby. I couldn’t get the part.”

 

She felt her stomach drop and suddenly she felt cold, colder than she'd ever felt on the Ark in her life. She breathed in and the air smelled sweet, cold, and slightly acrid like when a wire shorted out, but this was pleasant and comforting. She felt at home at the same time out of place.

 

_White powder lined the beaten earthen path as she walked towards a bustling market. The sweet, earthy scent of herbs caught her senses and she looked down to see a large woven basket made out of branches, saplings, and brightly colored wires interspersed for decoration in her hands filled to the brim with different herbs that were familiar… and yet unknown._

 

_The brisk smell of snow on dark, rich earth was cut by a spicy sweet scent that perked her interest. The heady smell wandered down the path from the open pavilion surrounded by random bonfires, booths of varying wares, and the robust laughter of gathering crowds._

 

_It was home and yet… alien._

 

“Abby?” Raven’s gentle hand on her shoulder startled Abby and she was back on the Ark. it felt more claustrophobic than she'd ever experienced.

 

“You couldn't get the part?” Abby pushed the weird feeling from her thoughts and focused on the task at hand.

 

* * *

 

 

Abby knew what she had to do, but the strange experience from before made her hesitate. Time was not on her side and the impending deaths of three hundred people loomed over her head if this didn’t work. She needed guidance.

 

She needed Vera.

 

Making her way through the Ark, Abby found Vera Kane tending to the Eden Tree. Their eyes met and for a second, Vera appeared younger and a small Marcus stood next to her as they watered the tiny remnant of Earth. As quickly as the vision came, it disappeared.

 

“Abby, honey,” Vera’s smile and welcoming hug warmed her instantly. “What brings you down here?”

 

“I… I’d like to talk to you.”

 

“Walk with me,” Vera curled an arm around Abby’s shoulders and drew her away from the common area. They walked in silence for a bit before Vera squeezed her shoulder, “Migraine still bothering you?”

 

“Yes…” Abby looked up at the older woman in surprise. She’d never told Vera about the migraine.

 

“Mine was like that too, when it finally ended after a few days I sobbed in relief.”

 

Abby stopped short, her jaw dropping. “Y-you?” She finally managed to squeak out. “You too?”

 

Vera’s hands were warm against her cheeks and her smile comforting, “Yes.”

 

“The headache, the strange sensations of things you’ve never felt before?”

 

“Yes and so much more. Oh Abby, my dear, your world is about to expand beyond what you’ve ever dreamed. It’s unsettling, I know, but soon you’ll be experiencing thoughts, emotions, and memories that are not your own and yet are at the same time.”

 

“Who else?”

 

“I don’t know,” Vera shrugged as she dropped her hands. “You’ll find out soon, I know that.”

 

Abby nodded, trying to process all that Vera’s told her. “Vera,” she finally looked up, “what _are_ we?”

 

“Sensates, or _homo sensorium_ , are beings capable of connecting with others on a level not known to human beings. Each sensate is born to a cluster at the same time, usually clusters are those born on the same day years before. Clusters are able to visit and share with each other from the moment they are reborn as sensates. Sensates from different clusters, like us, have to make physical eye contact to later visit each other. We’ve existed for thousands of years on Earth before the fall and now on the Ark,” Vera answered and dropped her voice low before finishing her sentence, “ _and_ Earth.”

 

“You mean…?” Abby matched her volume out of secrecy and also because she could scarcely breathe let alone speak any louder.

 

“Earth is survivable? Yes.”

 

“Is there proof? Proof I can show the Council?”

 

Vera’s eyes darkened slightly and she slowly shook her head, “No proof unless they are also sensate, Abby, I’m sorry. They would not take it as evidence and that would be even if they knew we existed.”

 

“Sensates… sensates hide?”

 

“Out of safety, out of fear,” Vera quickly checked the deserted hallway they were standing in. “We… have been hunted before, for decades even, and so kept our existence a secret from humans. The less _they_ know, the more of _us_ stay alive.”

 

“More secrets,” Abby sighed. “I… thank you, Vera, I have to go, but I want to know more.”

 

“You know where to find me and I can show you a trick.”

 

“What trick?”

 

“We call it visiting, I’ll show you.”

 

“Okay… okay, thank you, Vera, this helps a lot.”

 

Marcus’ mother scooped her up into a tight hug for a brief moment, “You’re welcome and stay safe. Tell no one of this outside of your cluster or other sensates.”

 

“I won’t, I promise.”

 

With one last hug from Vera, Abby turned around and walked as swiftly as she could without raising suspicion to medical. This new information changed everything and she had to move fast in order for her and Raven’s plan to work.

 

It was time to make a deal with Nygel and get the hell out of here to Earth.

 

* * *

 

 

The plan didn’t quite work out the way Abby was expecting it to, but she hoped it would turn out for the best. As the ties cut into her wrists painfully, she hoped Raven would make it. She hoped that she didn’t send another kid down to die, but Vera’s words earlier… that Earth was survivable, had _been_ survivable beat a tattoo in her brain even as Kane berated her.

 

It had to work, the plan had to work.

 

If not, then three hundred and twenty people would be sacrificed to give the Ark more time.

 

 _‘More time to bicker and decide who lives, who dies_ ,’ Abby thought as they all but dragged her to the prison block. Passing a junction in the hallway, Abby looked up and saw a strange man, grizzled cheeked and long greying hair braided back from his face. His eyes were lined with a dark substance and his face smudged with dirt. Their eyes met and for an instant she was back in that bustling market before she was jostled along and her bearings on the Ark returned.

 

Could that man be one of her cluster?

 

* * *

 

 

Abby coughed, her whole body shaking with the effort as her lungs scrambled for more air than was available. She shivered, wishing she had her coat, and leaned back against the bedpost. No word so far on Raven, not that anyone was willing to share with her that is.

 

“I should have known you were going to get into trouble.”

 

Abby started at Vera’s sudden appearance next to her, though instinctively she knew the woman wasn’t actually there. She wilted slightly under Vera’s steady gaze, “You know me, Vera.”

 

“Always stubborn,” Vera chuckled. “How are you feeling?”

 

“The migraine is gone, I think I cried myself to sleep last night,” Abby answered as Vera sat down next to her on the bunk.

 

“You must know… your life will start to get strange. I can help guide you, but some things you will have to work out on your own.”

 

“I understand, Vera.”

 

Vera’s hand warmed her cold cheek. Abby sighed and leaned into the comfort, even if Vera wasn’t actually next to her.

 

“Good.”

 

“So this visiting you spoke of earlier, what is it?”

 

Vera smiled and looked around the prison cell at Clarke’s lingering drawings before she answered. “Visiting was a term one of my cluster came up with to describe the times we went to one another. Within your cluster, you can access memories, thoughts, feelings, and even knowledge. As you become more comfortable with each other, you can even ‘step in’ to assist in times of trouble. That’s more of sharing than visiting though.”

 

“Can all sensates do this?”

 

“No, you and I are not able to share knowledge. Only within your cluster can you share while visiting, but _we_ can visit and we can experience physical sensations of the other.”

 

“Once eye contact is made.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“And there’s no other way to identify sensates?” Abby asked, her current predicament forgotten as her curiosity piqued.

 

“I don’t know,” Vera shrugged. “I suppose there could have been other ways, ways that were lost when the radiation spread across the Earth and all the stations cared about were surviving. For now, though, eye contact is the only way we have of detecting other sensates.” 

“Hm…” If she weren’t in prison, and the Ark weren’t failing, Abby almost would have jumped at the chance to look deeper into this. “How do you visit?”

 

“It’s not something you force,” Vera stood and extended her hand to Abby. Abby took it and suddenly she stood by the Eden tree, the common area deserted at this time and they were the only two in the room. “Visiting is something you let happen. It’s instinctive between your cluster and you. It will start to happen more.”

 

Abby reached out and lightly trailed her hands along the bark of the Eden tree, feeling the rough texture, “I can actually feel it.”

 

“Because I can.”

 

“When I visit you… is it in my head?”

 

“Yes, and I look like I’m talking to no one,” Vera smiled. “The same occurs to you when one of us visits.”

 

“How do I let the visits happen?”

 

“Open your mind… and let go.”

 

With one last smile from Vera, Abby gasped and sat up on her bunk in the prison cell. Her head swam with the new knowledge Vera shared, but she felt more alive than she had previously. She only wondered who else was in her cluster.


	2. Who Can Say If It Is We Who Make the Choice, or the Choice That Makes Us

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Abby and Marcus see Earth for the first time

The willingness shown to sacrifice their lives for others took Marcus by surprise, and something in the back of his mind nagged at him that it shouldn’t have. He had spent so long, so, so long working up the ladder, working to help these people, to help the Ark survive another generation, to live up to his destiny as a transitional generation… that he forgot the fact that keeping everything secret wasn’t always the best course.

 

Before Abby had aired that video, he’d been close to sacrificing three hundred and twenty people who were not volunteers, who did not know what was going to happen, who would have gone to sleep and not woken up. Before Abby, he would have kept it secret for the greater good and to keep the peace.

 

That was before, this is now.

 

Now as he watched the volunteers file in, he felt a warmth in his chest. _These_ were his people, _these_ were the people who knew they’d all have to sacrifice something in order for humanity to survive. _These_ were the people like Abby, who hoped. Who had hope that the 100 had survived, that they had enough time.

 

He wished they did. He wished he’d live to see the ground, to breathe in that air and see all the wonders of the Earth around him.

 

He turned to see how Jaha was doing and instead of seeing his chancellor, he saw green.

 

_Green_.

 

Never before had Marcus seen so much green outside of the Eden Tree his mother cared for and he could hardly believe it. It surrounded him. Tall, golden-green grass scraped at his legs and waist whenever the wind passed through the long stalks, it ruffled his hair and filled his nose with a slightly sweet scent. In the distance, tall trees, taller than he’d ever imagined in the years dreaming of them, with dark brown trunks and bright green leaves swayed slightly in the wind. Warmth from the sun hit his back and Marcus tilted his head back to soak it in, marveling in the sensation after a lifetime of living in space.

 

Something smooth and cold slid against the left side of his neck, ending at the artery in his throat. Marcus froze.

 

“ _Chon yu bilaik? Hakom yu kamp raun hir?_ ”

 

The voice was unfamiliar, and so were the words, but oddly enough he could understand them. “I’m Marcus Kane and I don’t know why I’m here… I don’t even know where _here_ is.”

 

The cold metal (for it was indeed metal, Marcus was all too familiar with the feel of metal against skin) stayed pressed into his carotid artery, the tip of the weapon digging into his skin as its owner stalked around to face him.

 

Her eyes widened by a fraction in surprise before they narrowed. “You speak the language of the Mountain… are you one of them?”

 

“The… the Mountain?” He repeated, not sure what she meant. A few beats later, Marcus sharply inhaled when he realized that only one place he knew of had mountains,  “You mean, I’m on Earth?”

 

“Yes,” she answered slowly. “You are not from… Earth?”

 

Marcus forgot about the weapon at his throat as he looked around him, suddenly his vision shifted and every detail now was more important than ever. It wasn’t a dream, it wasn’t the imaginings of his childhood, _it was real. Earth was real._  He almost couldn’t believe it. Instinctively he knew he wasn’t physically on Earth, but he could reach out and feel the rippled texture of the ridged long grass in his fingers, he could feel the growing warmth of the sun on his face.

 

“You are not from Earth?” The woman repeated her question.

 

“No,” Marcus shook his head. “I live up there. Up in space.” He pointed up at the blue sky above them.

 

“You come from the sky? How did you get here?”

 

“I… I don’t know. This feels strange… almost like when I saw that woman.”

 

“Somer.”

 

Marcus looked up and saw surprise and understanding in the woman’s eyes. “You saw her too?”

 

“I did,” she nodded. “I am Indra of the Woods Clan.”

 

“Marcus Kane of the Ark… wow,” he breathed. “How are we talking?”

 

Indra sheathed her sword, her hand resting on the hilt as she gestured towards the woods, “This way, out of the open air. It is safer.”

 

Marcus nodded and followed her, trying to keep pace even as he marveled at his surroundings.

 

“I have heard of what we are before, but I never expected to become one,” Indra spoke quietly, her words confident and precise. “My people call them _saikru_. They are people who are able to speak and see other people in their minds.”

 

“Telepathically linked?”

 

Indra nodded, “A _saion_ , one of us, is reborn into a _saiseingeda_ , or cluster, of other _saions_ that they are able to visit at will, without ever meeting physically. Outside of a _saiseingeda_ , _saions_ have to meet face to face in order to visit.”

 

“So you think we’re part of a cluster together?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Do you know how many there are in our cluster?”

 

“No. You are the first I’ve seen.”

 

Marcus sighed, “Me too. We’ll just have to wait and see.”

 

“We will, from what I know, it takes time for the cluster to find out about the other members. I just pray that none come from the Mountain.”

 

“Which mountain are you speaking of, Indra?”

 

There,” she gestured with her chin over his shoulder and he chanced a glance in that direction. Barely peeking out over the tops of the trees ringing the small clearing they’d entered in their discussion, the Mountain reigned over all. Marcus could barely make out something metal at the crest of the top, winking in the crisp sunlight.

 

“The Mountain,” he repeated. “You mean, Mount Weather?”

 

His cluster mate nodded, “The Mountain is evil.”

 

“Evil?”

 

“They steal our people. They disappear and either never return or…”

 

“Or?”

 

A muscle ticked in Indra’s jaw as she clenched it, the hand around her hilt white-knuckled from her grip. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, “Or they return as Reapers. Beings filled with a bloodlust unlike any of us have ever seen and they attack at random, usually taking more of our people into the tunnels.”

 

“Oh.” Marcus saw the pain in her eyes and something clicked in his head along with a flash of an unfamiliar face that filled him with a deep yearning. She had experienced this, she had seen someone she cared about taken and twisted into something she didn’t recognize anymore.

 

Her statement about the Mountain, about Mount Weather being evil, stuck with him as they continued walking through the woods. If the Mountain _was_ evil, and Marcus believed Indra, after all he was in her head, then that meant the kids could potentially be in danger, even if Earth is survivable.

 

_Earth is survivable._

 

Marcus stopped in his tracks as he realized what this meant. Earth is survivable, meaning the people on the Ark, those three hundred and twenty people would die for nothing.

 

“Kane?”

 

“Oh no…” The view of the bright green forest vanished and he was back on the Ark just in time to see Jaha press the button that stopped the air in Section 17. Marcus shifted forward, hoping to get the Chancellor to reverse his decision, when a hand on his arm stopped him. He looked down and saw Abby shaking her head slightly as she watched Jaha.

 

He was confused that Abby of all people would stop him. She squeezed his arm and shook her head again.

 

“You can’t stop him, Kane,” Abby spoke, but not physically. Another version of her appeared in front of him, eyes worried and her arms crossed.

 

He recalled on the feeling he had with Indra when visiting, the same he was experiencing now, and almost couldn’t believe that Abby was a _saion_. Not only that she was one, but also in his cluster.

 

“Earth is survivable,” He answered as soft as he could. “Earth is survivable and these people are dying for _nothing_. Why can’t I stop him, Abby?”

 

“ _We_ have the proof, yes,” she soothed, “but it’s not tangible evidence for _them_. How would you like to explain where you got your evidence that Earth is livable? From the voices in your head?”

 

“By telling them what I am!”

 

“ _You. Can’t_. That’s what I’m trying to tell you, Marcus Kane. It’s not safe.”

 

“It’s not safe?”

 

The psychic version of Abby shook her head, “We’ve… been hunted in the past. The less _they_ know, the more of _us_ stay alive.”

 

“So we do nothing?”

 

“Not unless we hear from the kids, which is why I’ve been fighting so hard to delay this until we heard back from Raven.”

 

Guilt hit him like a punch to the gut and he covered his mouth with a hand as he realized everything that had happened. He pushed for this, he pushed for these people to be sacrificed. They volunteered to extend the air on the Ark, but now that Earth was survivable, he was supposed to just sit and let it happen?

 

“I know this is hard, Marcus. We’re all to blame in this.”

 

‘ _No,_ ’ He thought, ‘ _the blame is all mine to claim_.’

 

* * *

 

  

Abby walked through the hallways of the Ark back to her prison cell in a daze. Her efforts to stop the Culling hadn’t been enough. Her pleas for more time, her risky decisions ranging from sending the 100 down to Earth, to airing the recorded message of her dead husband to the Ark as a last ditch effort… hadn’t worked. Her shoulders felt heavy, matching the heaviness in her heart and the exhaustion settling into her bones from hours tending to the dead of Section 17.

 

She passed the door to her quarters, her far too empty quarters and watched the door behind her until it was out of sight. It called to her like a siren of old and she longed to follow, but the light escort around her gently, but firmly pushed her towards the prison block. Abby stepped into the dimly lit cell, the walls still covered in all of Clarke’s drawings. She lowered herself onto the floor next to the bed and took them all in, admiring her daughter’s talent, another one that she shared with her mother.

 

Digging into the pocket of her coat, Abby pulled out the data stick Jake used to record his message. Her eyes stayed fixed on the tiny stick, this little thing that had impacted her life so much in the past year, much of it her fault as well as others. She couldn’t undo what was done, but she hoped it was enough to help them to survive… to make sure they _deserved_ to survive.

 

“You’re troubled,” a strange voice startled her out of her ruminations and Abby looked up and saw the man from a few days earlier. He stood in the center of her cell, towering in the cramped space. Now that she wasn’t rushed along to the prison block, Abby got a better look at him. Warm brown eyes, still surrounded by the smudged black, shone over prominent cheekbones. His brown and grey hair worn pulled back from his face in a messy knot at the back of his head instead of the braid she first saw him with. He wore simple, worn clothes, thicker in texture than those she’d seen upon the Ark. The second he realized where he was, he looked around in wonder and awe. “What is this place? Where am I?”

 

“You’re on the Ark… in space.” She pulled herself up to sit on the bed as the man turned in a slow circle, a smile spreading across his face and a look of wonder filling his eyes as he took in the blue-grey walls of her cell and the dark lines of Clarke’s drawings on every surface of the room.

 

“Space? As in the sky?”

 

His smile was infectious and she could feel one forming on her own face, “Yes. We’re in orbit above Earth.”

 

“I would like to see more of it, if you can spare the time,” he walked over and extended his hand. “ _Ai laik Toron kom Azgeda_.”

 

“Doctor Abby Griffin, Chief Medical Officer on the Ark,” she put her hand out and he clasped their forearms together firmly. In the back of her mind, she realized he was speaking another language, and she understood it perfectly.

 

“Chief Medical Officer?” Toron sounded the words out slowly, his English accented as he formed the unknown terms.

 

“I am… I…” she paused and thought about it. “I help people get better, when injured or sick.”

 

“Ah!” He grinned. “ _Yu laik fisa!_ ”

 

“ _Fisa_?”

 

“Healer, in our language.”

 

“That’s amazing. So, I am speaking your language?”

 

“Yes, is it not the same for you?”

 

“No, I hear you speaking English… mostly.”

 

“I see. That is a language our warriors speak, the rest of us use _Trigedasleng_.”

 

“Wow.”

 

“May I ask why you seem troubled?”

 

Abby debated on whether or not to tell Toron what was going on, but after all he _was_ in her head and would eventually find out. She looked down at her hands and sighed, the exhaustion returning. “The… the Ark is dying. There’s not enough air to support all of us. My… husband found out a year ago and was going to go public. I warned him not to, I warned that it would cause panic, but he wanted to go through with his plan of telling the Ark. I went to our leader and mutual friend about what Jake was planning, I thought he would talk Jake down.”

 

“And did he?” Toron sat down next to her.

 

“He had Jake arrested and he was floated… executed by being sent out an airlock into the vacuum of space,” she explained when Toron looked confused. “My daughter, Clarke, was also arrested, but since she was not an adult, she was put in prison instead of being executed. About eleven days ago, she and ninety-nine other teenagers were sent down to Earth to see if it’s survivable. I regret telling Jaha about Jake’s plan everyday now.”

 

“I am sorry. Is that what are you troubled about?”

 

Abby sighed, “No. I was desperate to find out if Earth was survivable, something I later found out with another sensate. I enlisted the help of a young mechanic, a person who fixes broken machines, to rebuild an escape pod so the two of us could drop down to the surface. For awhile it worked, but then time ran out and I distracted the authorities while Raven launched. While I was in prison, the council voted on a plan that I was trying to stop.”

 

“What was it?”

 

“Killing three hundred and twenty people to free up air on the Ark until we found a solution to fixing the problem.”

 

She heard him shift beside her and Abby looked up to see the shock in Toron’s eyes, but a look of understanding crossed his face. “Your life up here seems as harsh as ours down on Earth.”

 

“I didn’t know there _was_ life on Earth until a few days ago.”

 

“There is life, though the ground can be… hard. Did they go through with the plan?”

 

“They did… but not as they planned.” At Toron’s confused look, Abby smiled but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Three hundred and twenty people were killed, but instead of taking the lives of those chosen, I made a last ditch attempt to get everyone to work together and aired the last message of my husband where he explained that the Ark is dying and we needed to come together in order to figure it out. I should have had faith in my husband and faith in the people a year ago, but I was scared. Instead of choosing those who were going to be sacrificed, over four hundred people volunteered to die in order to extend the air on the Ark.”

 

“And?”

 

“And about five hours ago, we did it… we sacrificed three hundred and twenty of them… I knew Earth was survivable, but I had no proof outside of being a sensate. I had no tangible evidence that we could live down on the ground besides being sensate. I couldn’t stop it.”

 

“Did they not believe you as a _saion_?”

 

Abby shook her head, “Sensates on the Ark are not as free as those on the ground from what I’ve been told… we live in secret.”

 

“Because of the sensate hunters,” At Abby’s nod, Toron nodded as well, “I see… What’s next for the Ark?”

 

She shrugged, “Try to figure out the air problem… or die.”

 

“And what’s next for you?”

 

“Surviving until I can’t.”

 

“Is that a way to live?”

 

“No,” she smiled sadly, “but that’s life on the Ark.”

 

Toron sat in silence, but Abby could feel his roiling emotions. Already this visit was vastly different than the ones with Vera. With Vera, she could feel what Vera felt, but still highly aware of her own existence tethered to a physical body. Toron’s emotions felt like they _were_ her emotions, his thoughts spilling over into her head and for a brief moment, Abby existed in two places at the same time.

 

The sterilized air of the Ark gave way to the rich, earthy scent from the first time she experienced this feeling. The temperature dropped again, but she felt a heat source flickering at her side, the smoky acrid smell of something burning, but not like an electrical short - a thought, not her own, supplied a name - _Faiya_. She looked to her right and saw Toron still sitting next to her, a small smile on his face as she slowly realized what was happening.

 

“Is this…?”

 

Toron nodded, the smile widening as he did, “Welcome to Earth.”

 

“It’s colder than I was expecting.”

 

“Azgeda resides far to the north, the cold comes off of the lakes. It’s a harsher landscape than some other tribes have, but we manage.”

 

“What do you do here?” She asked him.

 

Toron stood and held out his hand, “I’ll show you.”

 

Abby took the offered hand and they left the blazing warmth of the fire behind them as he led her along a dirt path lined with the white powdery substance - snow or _ash_ \- she’d seen before in her previous brief visit. Her hand stretched out before she realized what she was doing and touched it. What she thought was soft was cold to the touch and melted in her palm, turning from fresh white to the crystal clear of water. The sensation was alien to her, but familiar to Toron.

 

It was weird, experiencing something for the first time and yet already knowing what that experience felt like. Abby couldn’t quite wrap her head around it.

 

“Come, I’ll show you something much better than _ash_ , Abby.”

 

He led her further down the path, one that she recognized from her earlier visit before she’d found out about being sensate, the heady spiced scent growing stronger as they walked along. They rounded the corner and a vast bustling market greeted her. Brilliantly colored fabrics, colors she’d never seen before in her life, draped over stalls, shining in the light of torches and firelight. The smell of cooking meat, unlike anything Abby had ever smelled on the Ark with their rations, and the heady smell (emanating from a dark, rich red colored drink offered with the meat “It’s _spais souda_ , a spiced wine”), drifted through the market in a haze, making Abby’s head swim as she took in all the sights, smells, and cacophony of overlapping conversations in a language that she _shouldn’t_ know how to understand, but she did.

 

“This is _Azgeda_ , these are my people.”

 

She looked around in wonder, amazed at what she saw, amazed that life had prospered on Earth after the nuclear devastation, and that those on the Ark were not alone anymore. They never were, right from the beginning. Toron led her through the market, pausing whenever she wanted to see something, gently explaining the various contraptions, bits and baubles, and tools for sale. It was simply marvelous.

 

Something cold landed on her nose, shocking her and she tilted her head back. Abby grinned, beaming radiantly as a gentle snowfall started, bright white flakes landing on the heads of the people around her.

 

“You could stick out your tongue and catch an _ashfleik_ like the _yongon_ do,” Toron teased, pointing out a group of children doing just that off to the side of the market.

 

Abby laughed, her heart lighter than it had been in some time. She raised her hands up, catching the falling flakes even as they melted against her warm skin. “I’ve only ever read about this. It’s amazing!”

 

“It is,” Toron nodded, his eyes kind. “It’s also very good for my work. The snow helps with some injuries when mixed with herbs.”

 

“That’s what you do here in Azgeda?”

 

He nodded again, “I am no _fisa_ , but I can help with some healing with my herbs.”

 

“I’d love to see it,” Abby smiled, already comparing Ark medicine to what Toron has shown her. He motioned for her to follow and they turned to walk when the door to her cell opened.

 

With a clang, Abby sat back in her cell, Toron gone, and the feeling of melting snow on her skin disappearing in a blink. After the brightness of firelight and snow, Abby struggled to see in her darkened cell block, she squinted at the door to her cell and just barely made out Jaha.

 

“You should sleep.”

 

‘ _How can I sleep after what happened?_ ’ Abby thought. “I don’t think I can,” she answered instead.

 

Jaha sighed and sat down next to her, handing an open flask over.

 

Abby took it and relished in the burn of the alcohol as it cascaded down her throat. It grounded her, reminding her of the situation back on the Ark. Escaping briefly had been wonderful, but there were still those on the Ark that needed her help. She took another swig, briefly wishing it was the _spais souda_ from Earth, before handing the flask back to Thelonious.

 

A flicker of light caught her attention and she looked up at the skylight in her cell, at the marvel of Earth below. Her eyes widened as she saw three streaks of red light blaze a trail across the window.

 

“Thelonious!” She reached over and grabbed his arm, gaining his attention. “Did you see that?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *enters 7 months later with the second chapter*
> 
> eeyyyyyyyy yeah, lots of stuff happened? Honestly, I got burned out creatively after writing most of this whole AU and while I'm still writing a lot it, shit happened in my life, guys.
> 
> I lost my job, had to extend my contract with the job I was in (lost that one too at Thanksgiving), went through a break up, had two car accidents, and my grandfather died, so my creative spirit and motivation has been at an all time LOW since I started this fic.
> 
> That being said, I do appreciate the kudos and comments (minus the ones complaining about the time in between updates) y'all left here. They kept me going and hopefully the next chapter won't be 7 months from now.
> 
> (but seriously, stop commenting on how long it's taken me to update. I. KNOW. and it's rude as fuck)


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